Think about salt vs fresh water electrocution this way. Fresh water is a lot less conductive than your body, while salt water is a lot more conductive than you are. If you are swimming in an electric field, you are a parallel circuit path with your medium. In fresh water you are the conductor of choice, whereas in salt water you are the high resistance path and will get very little current.

As far as genset issues go, the genset switches cut both the neutral and hot wires aso there is no issue there for the OP.

Dave has now aroused my curiosity about EU wiring. In the US, the neutral is always grounded and the neutral is never broken by a switch--the switches are always on the hot side. That means if I want to replace a light bulb (or even a light fixture), all I have to do is turn off the wall switch and I am safe. Further, if I want to work on branch wiring, all I have to do is through the breaker which turns off the hot side. So how do I do all that in an EU house--if the neutral can be hot, where can I disconnect it too??

One of the first lessons for RTW cruisers--every new marina will have a new shore powerplug, and you need to learn how to use a multimeter to suss out which wire is which and connect it correctly to your shore power cord. I think I ended up with a collection of a dozen plugs.

Think about salt vs fresh water electrocution this way. Fresh water is a lot less conductive than your body, while salt water is a lot more conductive than you are. If you are swimming in an electric field, you are a parallel circuit path with your medium. In fresh water you are the conductor of choice, whereas in salt water you are the high resistance path and will get very little current.

As far as genset issues go, the genset switches cut both the neutral and hot wires aso there is no issue there for the OP.

Dave has now aroused my curiosity about EU wiring. In the US, the neutral is always grounded and the neutral is never broken by a switch--the switches are always on the hot side. That means if I want to replace a light bulb (or even a light fixture), all I have to do is turn off the wall switch and I am safe. Further, if I want to work on branch wiring, all I have to do is through the breaker which turns off the hot side. So how do I do all that in an EU house--if the neutral can be hot, where can I disconnect it too??

One of the first lessons for RTW cruisers--every new marina will have a new shore power plug, and you need to learn how to use a multimeter to suss out which wire is which and connect it correctly to your shore power cord. I think I ended up with a collection of a dozen plugs.

The standard EU installation typically requires either a local earth or neutral tied to earth at a common premises point. Hence for practical purposes the system is not unlike the US. Most neutrals will be near ground potential.

The difference is emphasis, many EU sockets , just like American sockets are unpolarised, floating neutrals are not uncommon , as are reversed polarity marina pillars. EU boats typically do not indicate reverse polarity.

If working on 220vac , I would rarely rely on disconnecting the branch breaker, the main double pole disconnect is thrown ( commonly integrated into the RCD ). In a push , I use the electricans trick of touching the live with the back of my right hand and letting the RCBO trip out !!! ( kids, don't try this at home ! ) , handy for ,a quickie remote disconnect !!

But I would never work on a branch just isolated by its single pole breaker and assume its dead ( nor should you either )

Note that IEC 60364 is not an apples and apples comparison with NEC , but really a overarching guidance document to develop specific national wiring standards. Gradually EU wiring standards are converging on the principles of IEC 60364, but even within that there is significant national variation and of course large legacy installations

Irrespective, the issue of the OP , is not a function of specific EU wiring principles. The theory is good on all boats.

By the way here's what IEC 60364 defines a " live conductor "
(826) Live part: A conductor or conductive part intended to be energized in normal use, including a neutral conductor, but, by convention, not a PEN conductor.
Note: This term does not necessarily imply a risk of electric shock.

Which makes the term "live" and " neutral" commonly used in the UK some what meaningless

[QI hoping tOTE=goboatingnow;1505316]The standard EU installation typically requires either a local earth or neutral tied to earth at a common premises point. Hence for practical purposes the system is not unlike the US. Most neutrals will be near ground potential.

The difference is emphasis, many EU sockets , just like American sockets are unpolarised, floating neutrals are not uncommon , as are reversed polarity marina pillars. EU boats typically do not indicate reverse polarity.

If working on 220vac , I would rarely rely on disconnecting the branch breaker, the main double pole disconnect is thrown ( commonly integrated into the RCD ). In a push , I use the electricans trick of touching the live with the back of my right hand and letting the RCBO trip out !!! ( kids, don't try this at home ! ) , handy for ,a quickie remote disconnect !!

But I would never work on a branch just isolated by its single pole breaker and assume its dead ( nor should you either )

But then 110vac is so wonderfully wimpy

Dave

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

Ive never heard of that old electricians trick of grounding the phase conductor on the back of your hand and if one of my employees had been so stupid as to try it i would fire him on the spot, i hope no one on here is daft enough to try it either it the equivilant of Russian roulette, how to know the rcbo will trip in less than 200ms as it should you don't

Ive never heard of that old electricians trick of grounding the phase conductor on the back of your hand and if one of my employees had been so stupid as to try it i would fire him on the spot, i hope no one on here is daft enough to try it either it the equivilant of Russian roulette, how to know the rcbo will trip in less than 200ms as it should you don't

Boat: So many boats to choose from. Would prefer something that is not an AWB, and that is beachable...

Posts: 1,314

Re: Wiring of american to european shore power plug

Quote:

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

Dave has now aroused my curiosity about EU wiring. In the US, the neutral is always grounded and the neutral is never broken by a switch--the switches are always on the hot side. That means if I want to replace a light bulb (or even a light fixture), all I have to do is turn off the wall switch and I am safe. Further, if I want to work on branch wiring, all I have to do is through the breaker which turns off the hot side. So how do I do all that in an EU house--if the neutral can be hot, where can I disconnect it too??

Properly wired live will be brown, neutral will be blue and earth is green/yellow. Switches usually only cut live (and usually a black wire is used downstream of the switch).
Replacing a bulb I usually don't even worry whether it's switched off or not. Can't tell if it's on or off with the bulb burnt out anyway. Replacing a fixture I will just switch off the circuit at the breakers, and these will cut both live and neutral. However per Swiss law I'm actually not supposed to work on the system myself. I do it anyway though...

Neutral will be grounded at the neighborhoods' substation. The high voltage distribution network is three phase so you always see power lines with sets of three wires. Then at the substation a neutral is added, grounded at the substation. Four wires will then enter your premises. Three live, one neutral, and the circuits in your house will be distributed across them. For heave appliances three phase sockets (having five pins, L1,L2,L3,N,PE) exists, that deliver 400V. Typical use is for washing machines and electric ovens and ranges.

The difference is with appliances. Most of Europe uses sockets that do not enforce polarity. Hence when electricians wire them they usually won't bother with having the live and neutral consistently wired up. Which means that anything that is intended to be connected/disconnected to a power socket must be build under the assumption that live an neutral can (and will) be reversed. Hence circuit breakers must cut both wires, and neutral must be shielded as well as live, and certainly not tied to ground.

three phase into domestic installations seems to be common in germany, austria and switzerland. It is not common elsewhere, though easy to get it added should you wish , but there is typically a charge.

Note the following is for houses, NOT boats.

Note that as in North America, European supply to the house is polarised ( see below for IT systems ) , i.e. Neutral is at or close to earth potential. The most common grounding systems are known a TN-S or TN-CS, in the UK TN-C, is separate N and E from the power distribution centre, the E is carried into the premises using the conductive ( usually lead ), jacket over the buried cable , useful in housing estates etc, as it avoid the need for ground rods.

Today a lot of system are TN-C-S, i.e. a combined PEN wire from the power source is terminated at the consumer premises and there the earth wire is connected to the Neutral, Multiple grounding points are maintained to ensure the neutral is at earth potential, ( other wise you get the tingling sensation!!)

TT installations using a locally supplied ground rod were common , less so now,

IN scandavian countries an IT supply using floating feeds was common, less so now under harmonised standards.

Boats on the other hand , when fed by shore power are effectively treated as appliances.

Dave

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i know this is an old post but i wonder if someone could clarify for me.

i am making up a tail to connect a European yacht shore power lead to a US 240v dock supply. i have a European female three pin 32 amp adaptor at one end and a Marinco 50 amp male locking plug at the other. Can someone confirm if Golden Orchids wiring diagram for the Marinco plug is correct? There were so many posts on this subject with scary comments that i am now confused. any help gratefully received.